Basketball Game Preview: Kennewick Lions vs. Chiawana Riverhawks

The Kennewick Lions and the Chiawana Riverhawks will face off at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday without much rest having both just played. Kennewick knows how to get points on the board -- the team has finished with 55 points or more in their past eight contests -- so hopefully Chiawana likes a good challenge.

Kennewick will head into Friday's game on the come-up: they were handed a heart-breaking three-point defeat in their last match, but they sure didn't let that happen against Pasco on Friday. Kennewick blew past Pasco 67-25. With the Lions ahead 46-7 at the half, the contest was all but over already.

Meanwhile, Chiawana came tearing into Friday's match with four straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 25 points) and they left with even more momentum. They secured a 57-51 W over the Braves. Given the Riverhawks' advantage in MaxPreps' Washington basketball rankings (they are ranked 35th, while the Braves are ranked 110th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Chiawana is also on a roll lately: they've won nine of their last ten games, which provided a nice bump to their 14-2 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 73.2 points per game. As for Kennewick, they pushed their record up to 11-4 with the victory, which was their third straight on the road.

Kennewick strolled past Chiawana in their previous meeting back in December of 2024 by a score of 68-51. Does Kennewick have another victory up their sleeve, or will Chiawana turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.